Treatment of discrete materials with gaseous media particularly applicable to drying



4 2 3 6 9 l 5 mm R. V. FARNHAM DISCRETE MATERIALS WlTH G ICULARLY APPLICABLE TO DR Filed March 8, 1929 March 17, 1931.

TREATMENT OF MEDIA PART 1. w n 24 i r I v r:

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Patented Mar. 17, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REGINALD VANDEZEE FARNHAM, OF BAR-NSLEY, ENGLAND TREATMENT OF DISCRETE MATERIALS VITH GASEOUS MEDIA PARTICULARLY AP- PLICABLE T DRYING Application filed March 8, 1929, Serial No. 345,558, and in Great Britain March 10, 1928.

The invention relates to apparatus for treating materials with gaseous media and is applicable in particular to the drying of cereals, crystals, carbonaceous matter such as coal, or other materials, in a discrete form which will pour or cascade.

In the kind of apparatus to which the present invention relates, the material to be treated is poured or cascaded from one rotating retarder to another so that it is brought into intimate contact with the appropriate gaseous medium.

W'ith the main object of securing a more efiicient contact between the material to be treated and the treating medium, the present invention consists in apparatus embodying the features hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying diagramznatic drawings Figure 1 shows a side elevation of one constructional form of the invention,

Figure 2 being a cross section on the line 22 of Figure 1.

In carrying the invention into effect according to the form shown, six like retarders, A, B, C, D, E, F, are orovided one above the other. Taking one 0 these, A, by way o1 example, it consists of a suitable number (say six) of compartments defined by imperforate radial arms or webs, a a mounted on a hub member a and is of a length equal to the length of the casing and rotatable therein. The retarder is preferably arranged in a separate section, a of the casing and is rigidly connected to the spur wheel,'a

The remaining retarders, B to F, are of the same construction, the elements associated with each retarder being indicated in the drawings by the appropriate alphabetical letter with a numerical suffix having the significance pointed out above with reference to the retarder, A.

All the gear wheels, a to 7, are geared together so that they and the retarders respectively attached to them can be continuously rotated alternately in opposite directions from any convenient source of power.

The material may be introduced by way of a gas-tight rotatable hopper, G, and withdrawn by a similar device, H, these two rotatable elements being respectively provided with gear wheels, 9 72 gearing with the uppermost and lowermost rctarder gear wheels, at and 7, respectively.

The gaseous medium of an appropriate nature with which the cascading material is to be treated, is introduced laterally into the bottom retarder section, f through the inlet, J, and is similarly exhausted through the outlet, K, in the uppermost section, e or in any other suitable manner.

Taking the first or uppermost retarder, A, by way of example, and supposing it rotates in the counter-clockwise direction, as seen in end View, (see Figure 2) a space, a, is provided between the left-hand side, i. e., the delivery side of the retarder and the adjacent wall of the casing section, a, so as to provide a passage for the gas, while the wall of the same casing section on the right-hand side is formed as the arc of a cylinder, a, so as to enclose in a gas-tight or substantially .gas-tight manner, say, two or three divisions of the retarder. The cylindrical portion of the casing may be connected to the relative flanges by which the casing sections are bolted together by oppositelyinclined walls.

The second or next lower retarder, B, rotates in the opposite or clockwise direction and has its centre preferably somewhat to the left of the centre of the uppermost retarder, A, so as to be in a position more readily to receive material falling from the top retarder without such material striking the walls of the casing. The section, 6 in which the second retarder rotates is of similar constructon to the uppermost section but reversed right for left, that isto say the cylindrical portion, 6 in proximity to which the retarder, B, rotates is on the left-hand side while a space, 6 is left between the wall on the righthand side and the retarder.

The third section with contained retarder, C, is similar to the first, the fourth to the second, and so on.

By virtue of the construction described above, the ascending gas with which the material is to be treated pursues the same zigzag path through the apparatus as shown by the dotted line that the falling material pursues so that the material to be treated and the treating medium are brought into prolonged and intimate contact.

Further, owing to the preferred relation of any given retarder to the one below, the material falls directly on a rotating surface instead of on a stationary surface Where, in particular conditions of dampness and so forth, it may collect and interfere with the correct action of the machine.

Variations in detail may be made without exceeding the scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 2- 1. Cascading apparatus of the kind indicated, comprising in combination a casing having certain curved portions; a number of rotatable retarders disposed within said casing, each of said retarders having imperforate walls compartmenting said retarders circumferentially, peripheral ends of said walls over a certain arc of rotation of said retarder being in gas-tight association with a curved portion of said casing on one side and removed a certain distance from the casing on the other side to provide a passage between said retarder and said casing; means for introducing material to be treated into the interior of said casing at an upper part thereof to cascade downwards from retarder to retarder; and means for introducing a treating medium into the interior of said casing at a lower level thereof to flow upwards along the specific path provided by said passages between said retarders and said casing, down which the material to be treated 'asca-des.

2. Cascading apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which adjacent retarders are in gastight association with curved portions of said casing only alternately on opposite sides. 3. Cascading apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which adjacent retarders are in gas-tight association with curved portions of said cas ing only alternately on opposite sides and means are provided for rotating said adjacent retarder-s in opposite directions, the ascending side of each retarder being the side in gastight association with the corresponding curved portion of said casing.

In testimony whereof I have signed my nameto this specification.

REGINALD VANDEZEE FARNHAM. 

